By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : The Obama administration has filed a lawsuit to overturn a tough new Arizona immigration law, arguing it usurps federal powers to control immigration and would undermine its pursuit of terrorists and other criminal immigrants.
Weighing in on one of the most explosive issues in American politics, the Justice Department also asked the federal court in Phoenix, Arizona, Tuesday to grant an injunction to stop enforcement of the measure before it takes effect as currently scheduled July 29.
Republican Party ruled Arizona’s law requires immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and allows police to question the residency status of people in the course of enforcing another law. It also targets businesses that hire illegal immigrant labourers or knowingly transport them.
“In our constitutional system, the power to regulate immigration is exclusively vested in the federal government,” the suit argued asking the courts to declare the state statute invalid because it has improperly pre-empted federal law.
The federal law suit had been expected since mid-June, when Obama administration officials first disclosed they would contest Arizona directly, adding to several other suits by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups seeking to strike down the law.
“Arizonans are understandably frustrated with illegal immigration,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said. “But diverting federal resources away from dangerous aliens such as terrorism suspects and aliens with criminal records will impact the entire country’s safety.”
The Justice Department suit is also aimed at stemming a tide of laws like the Arizona statute under consideration in other states. “The Constitution and the federal immigration laws do not permit the development of a patchwork of state and local immigration policies throughout the country,” the suit says.
The White House has said the decision to challenge Arizona’s immigration law was left completely up to Holder and the lawyers at the Justice Department, but the Washington Post suggested its implications are “potentially huge” for President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party ahead of the November mid-term polls.
The Post cited a senior Democratic strategist as saying Obama will probably seek to avoid directly defending the government’s suit, or attacking the Arizona law, which remains popular in most polls. Instead, Obama will try to argue broadly about the need for comprehensive immigration reform.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])